My poor husband I am so mean to him.
I love movies, and I enjoy going to the theater, but I HATE spending that much money. It’s crazy for me and my family. To go and buy drinks and popcorn is over $80! For two hours’ worth of fun, I just can’t stomach it.

My hubby on the other hand LOVES going to the movies and the whole movie experience. So I bite my tongue and try not to act like the movie-going version of the Grinch when he asks the kids if they want anything.

They are children, the money sucking vampires, of course they want something!

I flinch when the total comes up and think of all the things I could have bought with the money we just spent, add in the money for the tickets, too, and my aversion to going to the movies grows. I keep these thoughts to myself as my hubby and the money vampires are now happily munching popcorn and slurping sodas.

Instead I settle in and allow myself to get lost in the film. We really don’t go very often, so the movie watching part is great.

Once the movie is over, I go back to the money issue. Did we just have eighty-plus dollars’ worth of fun? In a few months it would have been at the cheap theater (we have second-run three-dollar movie theaters in town) or even better at the video store. (Yes, I still go to one). Then the popcorn would be organic and a thousand times cheaper than the first-run movie theater.

Photo by Veggiefrog

Again, I do my best to keep these thoughts to myself. Because I live in Arizona, going from the cold dark theater to basically the face of the sun when I step outside, my scowl is mistaken for a personal war against the heat.
Thankfully we don’t go often due to not having a car, not having any free time, and me sighing and saying ‘Are you sure it will be worth it? What’s on Netflix?’

So are you a movie Grinch? Or do you love the movies enough to pay ten dollars for twenty five cents worth of popcorn?

12 Comments

I love going to the movies, but I typically skip the popcorn etc. I’ll smuggle a pack of Jolly Ranchers in and suck on them during the movie, and that typically does me. I’m with you – I think paying that much for munchy food is ridiculous. Even just the movie tickets make me hesitate, so I wait for movies I’m really excited about that pack a big visual punch before deciding to see it in theaters.

I have such a hard time spending that kind of money on a movie, too! I’ll do it every so often, but it’s painful. There’s an older theater in town that shows movies that have recently left the new theaters. The tickets are under $2, usually. You would think that is more appealing.

The concessions are still too pricey and the seats are not comfortable, which just reminds me that the newer, cleaner theater might be worth the extra price of a ticket. It’s really the food I can’t stand paying the ridiculous prices for–when I boil it down.

You’re a mean one, Mrs. Grinch … . I don’t go often. Hell, I watch movies on iMac from Amazon.com. That keeps me from almost getting into fist fights with jerks who want to talk. Not in my movie. Nope. 🙂

I only go to the movies if it’s something really big, like the 7th Harry Potter movie, or The Lord of the Rings. And we don’t buy food. I do go to the cheap theater more often, but even then I want it to be something I really want to see! And we don’t buy food. 🙂

When I was a kid we went so rarely to the pictures (we didn’t have a cinema locally) it was practically a tradition that we’d go to a cheap shop like Spar or Aldi beforehand and stock up a bagful of snacks. I don’t think I ever had actual cinema-popcorn until I was in my teens.

I try to go more regularly now because it is only a short walk away but I go for the cheap viewings, like Sunday afternoons, and usually I’ve had Sunday dinner then so don’t want snacks at all, however my local pictures are relatively reasonable on ticket prices so it isn’t too bad, particularly when I go on the discounted showings.

I used to be a bit of a grinch over it though when I had to travel further afield but as it stands going to the pictures once a month is cheaper than a LoveFilm account for me. I suppose it helps, too, that I’d never go to see a 3-D showing and 2D is quite a bit cheaper.

Alica McKenna Johnson writes about snarky girls, kind boys, and the adults trying to keep them alive. After day dreaming for the first thirty years of life, Alica finally began writing her stories down, much to the delight of her readers. As Alica sits in her armchair at home dreaming of traveling the world, her diverse characters explore for her listening to music, seeing the sights, and eating exotic foods.

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